News for August 9, 1999

Athens, World Junior Track Championships

Australia was the leading nation after the completion of
the Junior Worlds in Athens, Greece at the weekend. Australia
had 13 medals overall (5 gold, 4 silver and 4 bronze) followed
by France (2, 0, 1). The full results table is below. But it
was Australia which dominated the championships.

Canada, Bromont, MTB World Cup Round 7

French riders Nicolas Vouilloz and Anne-Caroline Chausson won the downhill
and confirmed the French dominance in that discipline. The pair already
had gained first place at Maribor (Slovenia), Nevegal (Italy) and at
the Squaw Valley (USA) rounds. The French secured 4 of the top 5 places
in the men's downhill. Nicolas Vouilloz is now certain of taking the first
place overall in the World Cup downhill. Steve Peat, winner of a race at
Mont-Sainte-Anne (Québec), has the smallest chance to take the crown of him.
Mickael Pascal came second at Bromont yesterday and it now 3rd overall in
the World Cup. In the women's division, Chausson is unable to be beaten
having won 6 from 7 rounds this season.

France, Avoriaz, World Championships MTB-Trials

1999 French Trials champion Marc Caisso won the 5th edition of
the VTT-Trial Worlds at Avoriaz-Morzine, in the Haute-Savoie region
of France. The world junior champion in 1997, Marc Caisso was too
strong in the Senior (Elite) division for fellow French rider
Bruno Arnold, who was defending his title won in Spain last year.
To confirm the French dominance, 1999 French runner up Marc Vinco
was third, and Gilles Borrel 5th. The German Marco Hosel (who won
the World Championship in the Velo Trial on Friday) was 4th.

Caisso was dominant though. He made a minimum number of errors on
a very difficult parcours - falling only once on the 8 zones which
had to be navigated twice. The fall prompted some treatment from
the French physiotherapist.

In the junior event, Poland's Kumorowski beat Belgian Buteneers with
Calvin (Fra) in third place.

Netherlands, Ronde van Zevenbergen, 60 kms:

Uwe Ampler contrite

Uwe Ampler, who has tested positive during the Sachsen Tour for steroids
has admitted his errors and said that he had made a made a terrible
mistake. The 34-year old told the press: " I was not intending to use the
drugs for performance enhancement. I had a flu during the Vredskoers and a fall in the Tour of
France. I took some antibiotics and some other products to aid my recovery."

The former world amateur champion said he did not know what the other
products contained. According to the director of the testing institute
that analysed the sample the testosterone values recorded were very high
and beyond the imaginable.

Germany, Bochum, 128 kms:

Peace Tour 2000

The 53th International Tour of Peace (Friedensfahrt) will start on May 7, 2000
in Hannover (Germany). The Tour races through Germany, Poland and the Czech
Republic and will finish in front of the Hannover town hall. The Tour will
end on May 13.

Coach shot dead!

Former Colombian national cycling coach Elkin Dario Rendon was shot
dead in Colombia over the weekend. He was very successful and coached
riders like Alvaro Mejia (4th TDF 1993). He was out running with a
colleague when he was shot. His companian was seriously wounded.
There was no apparent motive. He was still active in cycling and has
in recent year helped promote cycling in Costa Rica.